Make it Look Easy
by TheEndingsAreTheBestPart
Summary: After a big fight, Beca and Jesse are thrown together at the Riff-off. They haven't spoken in a month, will they be able to mend their broken relationship? (SUMMARY SUCKS BUT STORY IS MUCH BETTER)


**One-shot, may turn into multi-chapter if I receive positive feedback for it :P This idea has been swirling in my head for quite a while but never really got around to actually sitting down and writing it. So here I am, hope you enjoy it(:**

**P.S. In upcoming song singing:**

**Jesse's parts: **_Italicized _

**Beca's parts: Bolded**

**Joined parts: ****_Bolded, italicized, and underlined_**

It's not like they haven't fought before, what couple didn't? And with their clashing personalities, they've argued countless times. This time was different though, this time it was taken too far. They usually fight over something insignificant and irrelevant. They usually built their arguments on little things; making mountains out of mole hills. It was both of their faults; they both knew it but didn't bother to admit it.

In the end, one of them would end up crawling back to the other by the end of the day and have crazy make-up sex. It didn't happen like that this time, they haven't spoken to each other since the first week of school, it was their senior year at Barden – it was supposed to be their best year yet. But Beca just had to say those cursed words, she let it slip and she regretted it.

-xxx-

_Beca had a bad run in with her dad that morning; Beca was always irritable when it came to her dad. It was clear that he wasn't the reason Beca had stayed all these years, it was for Jesse and the Bellas. _

_Jesse had gone to the Bella's house that day to help Beca unpack all of the things she acquired over summer vacation. Believe it or not, Beca was a chronic souvenir collector. Jesse could see the distress in Beca's eyes, he hated seeing her like this, so being the nice, persistent boyfriend he was, he wanted to help._

_"You okay Bec?" He asked cautiously, testing the waters._

_"Yeah, I'm fine." Beca was fidgeting with a snow globe she picked up from her trip to Vancouver, running her thumb over the intricate designs on the base and tapping the glass with her fingernails. She didn't meet Jesse's concerned gaze, instead she watched the snow dance around the ceramic model buildings and bridge of Vancouver._

_"Bec, I know you, you're not fine." Jesse tried but Beca just scoffed. Beca didn't like opening up to people, even after 3 years of being with Jesse. She still had trouble talking to him about her dad._

_"Jesse I said I'm fine, can we just drop it?" Her tone came out colder than she had intended. She looked up at Jesse and could see the hurt in his eyes._

_"You're doing it again." Jesse said flatly._

_"Doing what?" Beca replied, I'm not doing anything, she thought._

_"Shutting me out, we agreed you'd stop doing that Beca." Jesse folded his arms over his chest and his eyes hardened, "You know you can talk to me."_

_"There's nothing to talk about Jesse! I'm fine!" She yelled back, she didn't mean to raise her voice. Why is this even happening? Why couldn't she just talk to him?_

_"Beca you're not fine! I don't know why you keep saying you are – Damn it, I know you probably better than I know myself. Why can't you just accept that it's not just you anymore? I'm here, I want to help you!" Jesse began to raise voice now, hurt and sadness filled his tone._

_"Well I don't need your help, okay? Can you back off!" As soon as the words left her mouth her hand slapped up and covered her mouth. She just said the words she vowed she'd never say to him again. The very words that made her almost lose him 3 years ago. She felt guiltier than she ever had in her life._

_Jesse's face was no longer sad or hurt. His face had no expression at all, it was blank and he stared back at Beca in disbelief. He was definitely taken aback at her words, his heart ached and shattered. If this were a cartoon, little red glass pieces would be scattered across the floor._

_"Jesse, I'm…" Beca started but Jesse interrupted her._

_"No Beca, I'm just…I'm just going to go. Bye." Jesse picked up his backpack off the floor and headed towards the door. Beca beat him to it, blocking his exit._

_"Jesse…" Beca tried but Jesse cut her off again._

_"Goodbye Beca." Beca reluctantly moved and Jesse awkwardly scooted out the door after taking one last sad eyed glance and Beca._

-xxx-

Beca was lucky enough to not see Jesse that month; the Bella's didn't have to attend auditions because they didn't need any new members. She had the original Bellas from her freshman year aside from Chloe and Aubrey, but they now have Alex and Stevie. She hasn't spoken to Jesse since the fight, and on the inside, she was a hot mess – but on the outside, Beca remained cool and collected. If you had seen Beca, she would've looked fine, she laughed and had fun with the Bellas, but knowing Beca for a while, they noticed she was missing a spring in her step. A spring she had when she was with Jesse.

Same could be said for Jesse, he was both relieved and disappointed to not see Beca and the Bellas in the auditorium for the auditions or in the station. Beca apparently had her shifts changed so they wouldn't be working together. Jesse was always a cheery guy, which is why it was easy for the Trebles to know that something had happened with Beca. Well yeah, he was still cheery, but something was missing, that glint in his eyes that he only had with Beca. They didn't bother to push him, they figured they'd go back to normal, but at the way things were going, they began to worry.

There was no way to avoid each other now, tonight was the Riff-off. Jesse or Beca couldn't not be there, they were the leaders of the two best groups in the a capella world. So when both groups arrived at the pool, an awkward tension filled the air. Both leaders chatted normally with their respective groups, not acknowledging each others' presence. Justin motioned the BU Harmonics to mimic the starting alarm while yelling, "It's time to get vocal!" He went on to explaining the rules of the Riff-off while some of the freshmen listened attentively.

He projected the wheel on the pool side; the girls were ready to pounce when it stopped. Justin spun around and yelled, "Brittany Spears songs!"

A harmonic surprisingly rushed to the middle and beat Stacie.

_Look at you  
Gettin more than just re-up  
Baby, you  
Got all the puppets with their strings up  
Faking like a good one, but I call 'em like I see 'em  
I know what you are, what you are, baby_

Womanizer, Woman, Womanizer  
You're a Womanizer, oh Womanizer oh  
You're –

Alex ran thee the middle timing her lyrics,

_You're toxic I'm slipping under  
With a taste of a poison paradise  
I'm addicted to you  
Don't you know that you're toxic  
And I love what you do  
Don't you –_

Everyone was surprised when Benji started singing, no one even noticed him sheepishly making his way towards the middle to interrupt Alex, because there was no doubt that he was attracted to her and she was attracted to him.

_you hold it against me?  
'Cause, you feel like paradise  
And I need a vacation tonight  
So, if I said I want your body now  
Would you hold it against me?_

Alex bit her lip as she watched Benji sing sweetly to her, but alas, all good things come to an end. A High Note interrupted him with a song that had nothing to do with the category at all.

_Crush a bit, little bit, roll it up, take a hit  
Feeling lit, feeling light, 2 A.M, Summer night…_

Everyone booed the dirty blonde High Note whose name was Nadine. She laughed because she really didn't care; she went to go sit back down at her group.

Justin worked his way to the middle, "Good song, bad timing. You are –" everyone clapped twice and said in unison, "Cut off!"

"Next category is…" They all waited patiently for the wheel to stop spinning, and when it did, a smile spread on Justin's face, "Yes! You have no idea how long I've waited for this." He spun around, "Duets! BUT this category has rules." He grabbed two hats that he had on the floor by his feet, "Here's how it's going to go down. This hat is full of names." He lifted up the hat, "I'll pick one person from two different groups who will duet. In this hat," he raised the other, "are duet song choices, however receives the most applause wins!"

"What if you don't know the song?" Stevie asked. Justin just shrugged, "tough luck."

He deviled his hand into the first hat and retrieved two small slips of paper. He opened the first, "Beca Mitchell from the Barden Bellas!" He announced. Beca remained calm, there are like thirty other people here, what are the odds it's be Jesse? Jesse on the other hand was getting jealous thinking about Beca singing a love duet with another guy, without thinking, he stepped forward, "I volunteer." Everyone looked at him with wide eyes, Justin just rolled his eyes, "This isn't The Hunger Games, Swanson." He laughed and opened the other slip of paper. His eyebrows rose as he eyed the paper, "Actually, you were the other person anyways, Jesse Swanson from the Treblemakers come on down!"

Beca face palmed dramatically as she watched Jesse shuffle towards her. _Great, just my luck._ Jesse smiled shyly at her but she didn't acknowledge it, she just wanted this to be over with. Justin swished his hand around in the other hat and pulled out a piece of paper, unfolding it over dramatically.

"Easy by Rascal Flatts and Natasha Bedingfield!" _Great, just freaking great, a break up song. _Beca thought, can this night get any worse?

Their two groups tried their absolute best to mimic the instrumental; they all knew Jesse and Beca needed this. Jesse was hesitant at first but he started singing the first verse.

_We broke up  
yeah, it's tough  
most guys would've been crushed  
Wastin' their time  
Wonderin' where they went wrong  
No way, not me  
Hey, I'm doing just fine  
I'm not afraid of movin' on_

Jesse tried his best to refrain the tears that were making its way into his eyes, he couldn't cry now. He sucked it up and continued. Beca just looked at him, stunned at how much feeling he put into it, watching the hurt swell in his eyes.

_It's easy going out on a Friday night  
Easy every time I see her out  
I can smile, live it up  
The way a single guy does  
But what she, what she don't know  
Is how hard it is to make it look so  
Easy_

It was true, every lyric he sang was true. It was hard acting like their not speaking was easy, it was hard acting like he was okay. Beca almost missed her cue and she stood there, Jesse was looking straight at her, singing this song that described them perfectly. She listened to the lyrics, getting sucked into the feeling. When she began singing, there was so much passion it could've brought someone to tears, but she kept her composure.

**The truth is  
That I miss lyin' in those arms of his  
But I don't ever let it show  
I laugh and I act like  
I'm having the time of my life  
as far as he knows**

They were communicating through the lyrics and through their eyes. Knowing what each other wanted, the apology might have not been clearly stated, but they both knew it was there. They understood each other that way. Beca's voice was soulful as she harmonized with Jesse perfectly for the chorus.

**_It's easy goin' out on a Friday night_**  
**Easy, everytime I see him out  
I can smile, live it up  
The way a single girl does**  
**_But, what he, what he don't know  
is how hard it is to make it look so  
Easy_**  
**Oh, it's easy  
**  
**_Oh, it's easy goin' out on a Friday night_**  
**Oh, it's easy every time I see him out**  
_I can smile,_ **live it up**  
**_Forget about the way it was  
_**_But what she  
_**Oh, what he don't know**  
_What she don't know_  
**_Is how hard it is to make it look so  
Easy_****_  
_****Look so easy**

When they finished their faces were inches apart and they were panting. They've never sang together before and after that they were both thinking '_why the hell didn't we do this before?!'_ The background music died down and Beca's arm snaked around Jesse's neck and pulled him into a toe curling kiss. His hands found her waist instantly, and they moved together in the hot, passionate kiss until air became a necessity.

They pulled apart, panting. Their audience erupted in cheers as Beca blushed and Jesse smirked down at her. "It wasn't easy you know." Beca finally said. She looked up into his big brown eyes, "being away from you…I'm sorry I said that Jesse, I really am. I love you."

Jesse just smiled and pulled her into a hug, "all is forgiven Becs, and I love you too." Jesse felt Beca smile into his chest.

Fat Amy cleared her throat, "you dingoes done yet?" They turned to face their groups who all had amused and smug smiles across their faces.

It finally hit Beca, "you all planned this didn't you?" They all nodded, to which she rolled her eyes, she wrapped her arms around Jesse's mid-section and his arm wrapped around her shoulders. "Thanks." She smiled at all of them, as did Jesse.

"You bet your ass 'Thanks,' Fat Amy patted Beca's back, "you're welcome flatbutt."

**There it is! I hope you guys liked it(: I enjoyed writing it, and I absolutely love the song "Easy" I had to write a story with it. Reviews or any form of feedback in encouraged, I love reading them(: Sorry if there's errors, I just wanted to get it out there because it's been itching me for quite a while.**

**Much love,**

**Oreo xoxo**

**Songs used:**

**Womanizer – Britney Spears**

**Toxic – Britney Spears**

**Hold it Against me – Britney Spears**

**Pursuit of Happiness – Kid Cudi**

**Easy – Rascal Flatts ft. Natasha Bedingfield**


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